The Gwinnett County school board voted Thursday evening to purchase a new health curriculum, but without its sex education component.
The resource, HealthSmart, will cost $8.5 million and has drawn significant attention over several months — nearly all of it negative — from parents, community members and even State School Superintendent Richard Woods. A survey about the resources drew responses that overwhelmingly advised against using HealthSmart.
However, the criticism has been focused solely on sex education, leaving the board comfortable with following the recommendation of district staff and an advisory board that reviewed multiple health options and ultimately selected HealthSmart.
Opponents of HealthSmart have said the content doesn’t properly promote abstinence. They’ve pushed for continued use of a program called Choosing the Best, which has been in Gwinnett classrooms for more than 20 years.
The board’s vote delayed a decision about sex education, but in the absence of a decision, Choosing the Best will continue to be used. Board member Mary Kay Murphy advocated for using the most up to date version of the resource, but the board has not voted to purchase it.
In April, a majority of the board indicated support for choosing a health curriculum and conducting a separate process to select sex education. But that decision didn’t come with a timeline or a decision of what would be used in the interim.
Board Chair Tarece Johnson expressed confusion before the vote Thursday, saying she did not know selecting a new sex education program may take about a year. She abstained from the vote.
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